German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a thinly veiled swipe at Elon Musk on Tuesday, using his New Year’s address to criticise the tech billionaire’s involvement in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections.
In pre-recorded remarks from Berlin, Scholz took aim at Musk’s attempts to influence the outcome of the election without mentioning the X (formerly Twitter) owner by name.
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“Where Germany goes from here will be decided by you — the citizens,” Scholz said of the February 23 elections, which were called after the chancellor lost a confidence vote earlier this month, collapsing his governing coalition. “It will not be decided by the owners of social media channels.”
“In our debates, one can be forgiven for sometimes thinking the more extreme an opinion is, the more attention it will garner,” Scholz continued. “But it won’t be the person who yells loudest who will decide where Germany goes from here. Rather, that will be up to the vast majority of reasonable and decent people.”
In his New Year’s address, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a swipe at Elon Musk – without referring to him by name.
After Musk called for an AfD victory in Germany’s upcoming elections, Scholz said it’s up to German citizens to decide – not \"owners of social media channels.\" pic.twitter.com/it8XaABrmK— DW Politics (@dw_politics) December 31, 2024
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In his New Year’s address, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a swipe at Elon Musk – without referring to him by name.
After Musk called for an AfD victory in Germany’s upcoming elections, Scholz said it’s up to German citizens to decide – not “owners of social media channels.” pic.twitter.com/it8XaABrmK— DW Politics (@dw_politics) December 31, 2024
